Boat trailer attachment



Jan. 18, 1955 P. z. CARRAWAY BOAT TRAILER ATTACHMENT Filed June 5, 1952PIC-Ll.

INVENTOR FLOYD Z. CARRAWAY ATTOR Y United States Patent 2,699,559Patented Jan. 18, 1955 BOAT TRAILER ATTACHMENT Floyd Z. Can-away,Malvern, Ark. Application June 5, 1952, Serial No. 291,861

1 Claim. (Cl. 9-1) The present invention relates to a boat and moreparticularly to a boat employed for fishing and aquatic s orts.

Fishermen and others to whom appeal the sport of boating, frequentlylive a distance from a body of water or may desire to fish or boat indistant waters. While in the more populated areas it is possible to rentboats for limited periods of time, there are many frequenters of suchplaces that prefer to use their own boating equipment. Moreover thereare many who prefer to fish or boat in places where rental equipment isnot available. Hence there is a large number of boatmen who own theirown boating equipment and who transport their boats to and from theirhomes when engaging in boating or fishing. The transportation of boatsby such persons has heretofore presented the problem of how best toconvey his boat over dry land and to this end boat trailers have beenemployed upon which a boat had to be loaded onto or unloaded from itstrailer. Another factor that has required consideration is the storageof the boat trailer during the period the boat is in use in a body ofwater.

The primary object of the present invention is to avoid the necessity ofproviding a separate trailer for the transportation of a boat over dryland.

Another object of the present invention is to solve the problem ofstorage of the trailer during the period that the boat is in use in abody of water.

Still another object of the present invention is to detachably connectwheels to a boat so that when the wheels are not in use they may beconveniently stored in the boat.

The above and other objects may be attained by employing this inventionwhich embodies among its features, a pair of tubes carried by the bottomof a boat and extending vertically within the boat, plungers mounted forvertical movement in the tubes and extending through the bottom of theboat, and ground wheels carried by the plungers beneath the bottom ofthe boat.

Other features include compression coiled springs mounted in the tubesabove and in engagement with the plungers for yieldingly supporting theboat on the wheels, and flexible members connected to the plungers anddetachably connected to the plungers for limiting downward movement ofthe plungers within the tubes.

Still other features include oar locks carried by the tubes above theupper ends thereof and means carried by the oar locks and engaging thesprings for holding the oar locks in place.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of proved carrier in place.

Figure 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional View taken substantially onthe line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end view of one of the wheel mounts removed from theboat.

Figure 4 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken substantially onthe line 4-4 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view through oneof the tubes showing the spring and oar lock in detail.

Referring to the drawings in detail a boat designated generally isprovided with a bottom 12 and gunwales 14 which conventionally divergeas they recede from the bottom 12. The boat is of conventionalconstruction and forms no part of this invention save as it may enterinto the combination.

a boat and showing this im- The bottom 12 of the boat is providedintermediate its ends with laterally spaced rectangular openings 16 andsecured to the inner side of the bottom 12 in axial alignment with theopenings 16 are vertically extending rectangular tubes 18 whichterminate at their upper ends in a plane slightly above the top edges ofthe gunwales 14. Caps 20 enclose the upper ends of the tubes 18 and areprovided with openings 22 which align with said tubes 18. The caps arewelded to said tubes by welds 47, as shown in Figure 5. The caps 20 areprovided with laterally extending brace arms 24 carrying at their endsremote from the caps 20 with hooks 26 which engage adjacent gunwales 14to reinforce the upper ends of the tubes 18. Eyes 28 are carried by thehooks 26 and project outwardly from opposite sides of the boat 10.

Mounted for vertical sliding movement through the openings 22 in thecaps 20 and extending into their respective tubes 18 are rods 30 whichcarry at their upper ends oar locks 32 which engage the top sides of thecaps 20 as will be readily understood upon reference to the drawings.Carried by the rods 30 within the tubes 18 are laterally extendingannular stops 34 and surrounding the rods 30 between the caps 20 andstops 34 are compression coiled springs 36 which not only serve toyieldingly hold the oar locks 32 against the caps 20 but also serve toyieldingly support the boat 14 on the ground wheels to be more fullyhereinafter described. The structure so far described may be readilyemployed for navigation in a body of water and is adapted fortransportation over dry land by using the equipment to be hereinafterdescribed.

When the boat is to be transported over land, rectangular plungers 38are entered into the tubes 18 through the openings 16 in the bottom 12of the boat 10 so that their upper ends bear on the lower ends of therods 30. Yokes 40 are carried by the plungers 38 adjacent the lower endsthereof and mounted for rotation on the plungers between the adjacentyokes 40 are ground wheels 42. In the preferred form both the tubes 18and plungers 38 are rectangular in cross section so as to hold theground wheels 42 for rotation about horizontal axes which lieperpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the boat 10. Fixed to theyokes 40 are flexible members 44 carrying their ends remote from theyokes snap hooks by means of which the flexible members 44 may bedetachably coupled to the eyes 28 to hold the plungers 38 in the tubes18.

in use with the parts assembled as above described, the boat 10 may beattached to a traction vehicle and transported on the wheels 42 to adesired location. Obviously road shocks encountered during suchtransportation will be absorbed by the springs 36 so as to avoid roughhandling of the boat and possible injury thereto. The boat may belaunched by rolling it on the wheels 42 down a beach or bank and if sodesired, the wheels 42 may be detached simply by disengaging the snaphooks 46 and allowing the plungers 38 to move downwardly in the tubes 18until they are clear of the bottom 12 of the boat, at which time theymay be hauled into the boat 10 by the flexible members 44 and stored forfuture use. In this way no problem of trailer storage is presented andwhen it is desired to again transport the boat 10 over dry land, theplungers 38 are returned to their respective tubes 18 and the flexiblemembers 44 connected to their respective eyes 28.

While the present invention has been disclosed in connection withcertain specific embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that theseare by way of example rather than by way of limitations, and that theinvention is to be defined by the attendant claim which should be givena scope as broad as is consistent with the prior art.

What is claimed is:

In a boat having rectangular transversely spaced openings extendingthrough the bottom thereof, spaced rectangular tubes carried by the boatand extending upwardly thereinto in alignment with the openings, capscarried by the tubes and closing the upper ends thereof, arms carried bythe caps and extending laterally therefrom, hooks carried by the armsand adapted to engage the gunwales of the boat, eyes carried by thehooks and extending outwardly from opposite sides of the boat,rectangular plungers extending through the openings in the bottom of theboat and into the tubes, ground wheels carried by the plungers below theboat, compression coiled springs within the tubes and engaging the capsand the plungers for yieldably supporting the boat on the ground wheels,and flexible members connected to the plungers and detachably coupled tothe eyes for limiting downward movement of the plungers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSVondersaar Feb. 16, Yonkese Feb. 18, Langer Livermon May 3, Pinter, Sr.,et a1. May 9, Good 1 Mar. 16, Holsclaw Aug. 29, Oeth Nov. 14,

McClintock Jan. 30,

